


Power and Responsibility

by Ana (Anafandom)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Canon divergence - Spider-Man Homecoming, Civil War Team Iron Man, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I Love Peter, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Team Tony, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, but he made me cringe so bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-27 18:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14431452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anafandom/pseuds/Ana
Summary: Peter wants to be a good guy and help people. However, that doesn't mean doing everything by himself and being reckless. After Tony takes away the suit, Peter has to decide how to fix his mistake and how to be a real hero.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I recently re-watched Spider-Man Homecoming and was attacked by plot bunnies. Back when I was a teenager and read comics, Spider-Man was one of my favorites, so I have a soft spot for the character, and I really liked Tom Holland’s performance as Peter/Spidey. That being said, SMH was… cringe-worthy in a lot of ways for me. Man, Peter messed up big in that movie. I was yelling at the screen and rolling my eyes going “no, you idiot, what are you doing?” most of the time. He meant well, I know, but… ugh. Just no. And like always, the narrative makes it all okay in the end because he gets the bad guy and saves the day (it’s not as bad as Steve in CW, however, because Peter does acknowledge that he messed up at least). Has he learned anything? Maybe, but I’m not convinced. So, I decided I needed to fix it.
> 
> Another thing that bothered me about it was Tony’s mentoring. Now, I adore Tony, but that was… really bad mentoring. It’s clear that he was, in fact, keeping tabs on Peter, but (perhaps like his father – or at least how I see Howard) failed to let Peter know that, making Peter feel alone and unheard and thus leading to some bad decisions. I don’t think Tony was out of line in the ferry scene. Peter fucked up there, and he needed that lecture, but Tony could have handled the whole thing better. So I’m fixing that too.
> 
> Please note that for the purpose of this story, I’m going to ignore the insanity that is a 15-year-old Peter being a superhero, since that’s perfectly okay in comics logic (and if I don’t ignore that, it’s bye-bye Spider-Man, and that would be a different fic).
> 
> The story starts after the ferry scene and goes AU from there. I tried to follow the rest of the movie’s events and parallel them as much as possible, but the timeline has been changed a bit to fit what I needed for the story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you thought.

Peter laid on his bed, going over the day in his mind again and again. He’d fucked up. There was no question about it; he’d fucked up big time. “ _Screwed the pooch_ ,” as Mr Stark had said.

God, he felt awful. Mr Stark had yelled at him, furious with Peter for his idiocy and he’d taken away the suit. Thinking about it made him want to start crying again. He’d wanted to impress Mr Stark, to show him that Peter could be an Avenger, and all he’d managed was the exact opposite. He’d disappointed Mr Stark – he’d _angered_ him – and, worse, he’d put people at risk. People could have died – hell, _Peter_ could have died – and it would have been all his fault. It would have been like Uncle Ben all over again, only worse, because he had kinda done it on purpose, thinking he could be a big hero. _Oh god_ …

He tried to muffle his tears on the pillow, not wanting to wake Aunt May. God, what had he been _thinking_? What kind of moron put people in danger just so he could feel important? He wasn’t important, he wasn’t a hero – he was just a stupid kid in way over his head acting like he knew better than everyone else. Did he really think he could handle alien weapons’ dealers all by his lonesome, flying by the seat of his pants? Uncle Ben would have been so ashamed, and so would Aunt May, if she knew; Mr Stark certainly was.

Peter didn’t deserve the suit, he really didn’t. He’d had the most amazing gift and he’d squandered it away by acting like an idiot. God, he was such a total moron…

The tears kept coming, harder and harder. He’d fucked up. Really and truly. No way around it. And he had no idea how he could make things right – or if there _was_ any way of making it right at all. All his dreams of being an Avenger, of making Mr Stark (and Uncle Ben and Aunt May) proud had gone down the drain, and he had no one to blame but himself. His own stupid, reckless, arrogant _childish_ self.

“ _Zip it. The adult is talking_ ,” Mr Stark had said. At the time, Peter had been too overwhelmed to understand what that meant. Now, remembering it, he felt small and stupid for being scolded like a kid when he’d thought himself so grown up. Only to prove he clearly wasn’t…

He remembered the first time he’d seen Iron Man on TV. He’d been a little kid, and he’d seen the coolest robot ever fighting a bigger robot. It had been beyond awesome. And then Mr Stark had told everyone _he_ was Iron Man on live television. Peter had never wanted anything in his young life more than being Mr Stark in that moment.

Since then, he had followed Iron Man and Mr Stark’s career faithfully. He had Iron Man pajamas, Iron Man bed sheets, Iron Man backpacks and anything and everything he could convince his aunt and uncle to buy. When the Stark Expo had been announced right there in New York, Peter had begged Aunt May and Uncle Ben for months to take him, so much so that they had probably agreed just so he’d shut up about it. By a weird twist of fate, they’d gone the day the drones had come to life and started attacking the crowd. Peter had gotten separated from his family in the confusion and had ended up face to face with one of the drones. In his Iron Man mask and toy hand repulsor, he’d tried to be just like his hero and defeat the villain. And then the most incredible thing had happened: there _was_ a shot, because the _real_ Iron Man had come up behind him and saved young Peter’s life.

“ _Nice shot, kid_ ,” he’d said, and Peter had stood there in absolute awe until Uncle Ben had finally found him and taken him to a safe place.

Peter still had that toy repulsor, though obviously in no longer fit in his hand. If he hadn’t been an Iron Man fan before that, he sure would have been after. And that had been _before_ Iron Man had saved the whole world from aliens during the invasion, before he’d saved the president of the United States from a terrorist and then the world (again) from a killer robot.

Iron Man was a hero – Peter’s hero – and Peter had let him down, had failed him in every possible way.

When he’d come home to find Mr Stark in his living room all those months ago, Peter had thought he was dreaming; it was simply too good to be true. Then Mr Stark had revealed that he knew Peter was Spider-Man, and he’d asked for _Peter_ ’s help. The only reason he hadn’t blurted out yes and acted like a rabid fanboy was because he’d still not been sure it was really happening. (Not that he hadn’t embarrassed himself in other ways, though… Homework, dear lord…)

Going to Berlin had been both exhilarating and terrifying. He got to fight beside his hero! And he got the most amazing suit, designed by Tony Stark himself! It was incredible!

The fight itself had been really kinda scary, though. Those guys had _not_ been kidding around. Peter had gotten a little worried there when Captain America had dropped a container on his head (Peter had thought Cap was all right, but he had nothing on Iron Man – he wasn’t so sure what he thought of the man anymore), and he’d been really glad when Mr Stark had told him he was done, even if he’d tried to act tough (wouldn’t want Mr Stark to think Peter was a wimp). Then Col Rhodes had fallen from the sky and that had been utterly _terrifying_. (He still didn’t really know what had been going on that day, beyond the fact that Cap had been running away from the law for some reason.)

In the end, Peter hadn’t done what he was supposed to do – the others had managed to get away – but Mr Stark had reassured him that he’d done well, and that he could keep the suit. Peter had thought he’d have another chance to prove himself and earn a spot in the Avengers (what was left of them by that point anyway). It would have been the most awesome and amazing thing ever! He’d been waiting, the last couple of months, fantasizing about being a real hero and fighting aliens and saving the world.

Except he’d completely ruined it and now Mr Stark could hardly stand to look at him. It sucked.

Most of all, it _hurt_.

*****

The next day, Peter dragged himself out of bed and to school. He’d wanted to stay home and wallow in his misery, but Aunt May wouldn’t have it.

“I know you’re hurting about the internship,” she said, “but there will be other opportunities.” She had no idea, of course, so he’d had no choice but to go.

“Dude, what happened?” Ned asked as soon as he saw Peter. No doubt Peter looked as wrecked as he felt.

“Didn’t you see the news?” Though Peter hadn’t seen it himself – living it had been bad enough – he knew his stupidity had been recorded for posterity. He really didn’t want to hear what the press had said about him. Probably something like _Spider-Man endangers civilians, Iron Man saves the day._ What little public good-will he’d managed to win had likely disappeared entirely.

“Yeah, but… What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Peter replied, before Ned decided to start an interrogation. He’d already gone over it again and again in his mind, and it only got worse the more he thought about it.

He spent most of the day sulking in silence and ignoring Ned’s concerned looks. He wasn’t ready to talk. In fact, he was pretty sure that if he started, he would end up crying like a baby (again) and he’d rather not do that in school; his reputation was shitty enough as it was.

When the bell rang, Peter went straight home. Unfortunately, there was nothing there to distract him from his thoughts, from feeling like a complete failure. By the time Aunt May came home from work, Peter was nearly crawling out of his skin. He had to do something. He _had_ to. What, however, he had no idea.

“ _You’ve done enough_ ,” Mr Stark had said, and it kept echoing in his mind.

But it couldn’t be just that. Peter was sorry, he really was. He knew he’d messed up. There had to be a way to fix it. It wasn’t about getting the suit back – he knew he didn’t deserve it –, it was about proving he could learn, that he could listen. Or, at the very least, apologize.

Yesterday he’s been so overwhelmed by everything that he’d failed to do that properly. He had failed, plain and simple, and he couldn’t stand to live with himself until he got to at least tell Mr Stark how very sorry he was about everything. It was the least he could do. Mr Stark had trusted him and believed in him and he’d let him down. He _had_ to do something.

“Peter, come help me with dinner,” May called.

After dinner, Peter checked his phone again. Ned had texted him a bunch of times throughout the day, but Peter had never answered. He didn’t know how to tell his friend he wasn’t Spider-Man anymore.

 _‘Talk to you tomorrow’_ , he finally typed before going to bed.

Last night he’d been so strung out and exhausted that he’d dropped like a stone when he finally fell asleep. This time he wasn’t so lucky. His dreams were plagued by images of the ferry sinking into the river, people screaming as they drowned. One of the people screaming was Uncle Ben. “What did you do, Peter?” he asked, right before disappearing into the water.

He woke up gasping and sobbing, clutching his pillow so hard he nearly shredded it.

_Oh god, what did I do?_

*****

He felt like absolute crap when Aunt May called him for breakfast in the morning.

“Oh, honey,” she said, “It’s going to be all right.”

No, it wasn’t. Not if all Peter did was sit at home feeling sorry for himself.

Instead of going to school, Peter took the subway to Manhattan and Stark Tower. He had to see Mr Stark. He had to talk to him and apologize.

Obviously, it wasn’t that easy. Telling the receptionist he wanted to talk to Mr Stark only earned him a pitying look.

“I’m afraid Mr Stark isn’t available.”

“Right,” Peter replied. He took out his phone and texted Happy. _I’m in the lobby and I really need to talk to Mr Stark. Please._

He waited a few minutes but there was no answer. He called and left a voice message. “Happy, please. I really really really need to talk to Mr Stark. I…. I’m so sorry. I messed up. Please, I just… I just want to apologize. It won’t take long. Please.” Peter wiped his eyes on his sleeve and hoped no one was paying attention to him crying pathetically in a corner.

He thought he might be able to climb up the Tower like he’d done in Washington, but that wouldn’t really help his case, would it? Mr Stark would be mad if Peter just broke into his home like a criminal. No, that would be a bad idea. Perhaps he could try to catch Mr Stark at an event. Would that be considered stalkerish? Would Mr Stark get angry and call the authorities? Tell someone that what happened with the ferry was Peter’s fault? Yeah, it was a bad idea.

“Excuse me. Sir?”

Peter turned to see the receptionist standing there. “Yes, sorry. I’m leaving. You don’t have to call security or anything.” There was no need to aggravate Mr Stark more than he already had.

“Actually, I got a call from Mr Hogan, our Chief of Security. You’re Peter Parker?” she asked.

“Hmm, yeah.” Shit, was Happy going to yell at him too? Not that he didn’t deserve it, but… Damn.

“He said you can go up.”

Oh yeah, he was going to get another chewing out. Still, at least he’d be able to really apologize this time instead of just standing there like the idiot he was.

“Right. Thanks.”

He got on the elevator the receptionist indicated. As it moved, he tried to arrange the words he wanted to say in his head. Peter was not good with public speaking unless he knew exactly what he was going to say. Otherwise he tended to babble like an idiot, and he most certainly didn’t want to appear any more idiotic.

The elevator stopped and Peter nervously stepped out. It was just a random corridor. _What?_

“Please proceed to the door on the far right,” a voice said out of nowhere, making Peter jump nearly to the ceiling in a panic.

“Hmm, okay.”

Beyond the door there was another elevator, so Peter got in. He was starting to sweat. Oh god, what was he doing?

This time the elevator opened into an apartment, and there was Mr Stark. _Oh my god,_ _I’m in Mr Stark’s apartment_.

To his everlasting shame, Peter burst into tears right there and then.

“Mr Stark, I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I… You were right, you were so right. I am such an idiot and I messed up and I’m sorry. I just wanted to be a hero like you but I’m not, I’m just a stupid kid and you were so nice and you made me a suit that was totally awesome and I ruined everything and I’m such an idiot and I didn’t mean to get anybody hurt, I just wanted to help and I…”

Mr Stark came closer and, to Peter’s complete surprise, hugged him.

“Okay, okay. It’s all right, kid. Breathe, Peter, just breathe.”

Peter hadn’t realized he was sobbing and hyperventilating until that moment, and it took him a while to catch his breath and calm down. Mr Stark continued to hold him and tell him it was all right.

Finally Peter managed to get himself back together, though he was sure he’d never been as mortified as he was just now.

“Okay, kid, sit down. Let’s talk.” Mr Stark didn’t seem angry. That was good, right? Peter had no idea what to think of it.

Peter obeyed, parking his ass in a couch that probably cost more than his entire apartment.

“Drink?” Mr Stark asked as he poured a glass of something for himself. “No, no, of course not. Forget I said that. No drink for you.” He tossed back the glass and refilled it. “But I need it, if you don’t mind. Fuck, this is a mess.” He sat a little further up the couch, eyeing his drink with a far-away expression Peter couldn’t read.

Peter had no idea what was going on anymore, but he’d come here for a reason, so he should get on with it – in less hysterical form this time.

“I’m sorry, Mr Stark.” He didn’t quite make eye contact.

“Jesus, kid, you’re killing me here.”

Shit. Not good. Before he could start again, Mr Stark continued.

“Okay, look. Yes, you fucked up, there are no two ways about it.” Peter winced. “But,” Mr Stark went on “it was my fault too. I am obviously really bad at this mentoring thing. I should have actually talked to you about… you know, this stuff.” He sighed and took a sip of his drink. “In my defense, I never really had much of a role model for that kind of thing. In any case, you said that I wasn’t listening, and I was, but I guess I can see why you thought that I wasn’t. I should have actually let you know that. I know what it’s like to not be heard, and I didn’t mean to do that to you.”

Peter was a bit stunned. “Mr Stark–”

“You’re young, and you obviously don’t know what you’re doing – no one your age does. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved in any of this in the first place. So, I’m sorry too. I… I failed you too.” Now he looked rather sad, which made Peter feel even worse.

“No! No, Mr Stark, you’re… you’re, like… a real hero.”

Mr Stark laughed, somewhat bitterly. “Doesn’t mean I can’t fuck up. I do. Quite a lot, actually.”

“Mr Stark–” he tried again, only be interrupted.

“I’m sorry I was so hard on you that day. You messed up, but I could have handled it better.” He sighed. “I really don’t want to be like my father.”

Peter lowered his head. “I deserved that.” Then there was a hand on his shoulder, like Uncle Ben used to do when Peter was upset about something. It took a lot of willpower not to start crying again.

“It’s good that you came here, that you’ve admitted your mistake and apologized for it. That’s brave of you. Not everyone can do that, you know.” He sighed once more. “Everyone makes mistakes, Peter. No one is perfect. The trick is to learn from them and do better next time.”

“Next time?” Peter asked, voice small and timid. Could he really get a second chance? Did he even deserve it?

Mr Stark leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes, idly twirling the glass in his hand. “Truth is, kid, I need you. The Avengers are woefully understaffed these days and you never know when the next disaster is gonna strike. So, yes, we’re gonna try this again. Properly this time. A second chance for both of us.”

“Really?” Peter could hardly believe it. In a heartbeat, his emotions did a 180 and he went from misery to astonishment. “Oh my god, Mr Stark, thank you! Thank you so much! I won’t let you down this time, sir, I swear. I’m gonna–”

Before Peter could get going too much, Mr Stark put a hand up. “All right, all right, slow down.”

Chagrined, Peter shut up. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, just don’t want you to get too excited just yet. Okay, so… We’ll need to make some changes.”

“Okay, sure. Whatever you say.” Peter was getting another chance. It was unbelievable!

“First of all, you’re going to be reporting directly to me from now on.”

 _Oh my god_ , Peter thought. Talking to his childhood hero on a regular basis? About superhero stuff? It was a dream come true!

“Second, you’re getting the training wheels protocol back. And this time you’re gonna go through it all before you earn the suit’s full capabilities again.”

That seemed fair. Peter remembered how he’d complained about being treated like a kid only to act like one later. He nodded. “Does that mean I can have the suit back?” Oh, it was too good to be true.

“Yes, but for now you’re only gonna use it here, under supervision.”

A few days ago, Peter would have chafed at that, but now he knew better. If this was what it took to make things right, he’d do it gladly. Besides, he obviously had a lot to learn, and who better to teach him than Mr Stark himself? Peter could barely contain his excitement at the very idea. “Do I get Karen too?”

“Who?” Mr Stark asked with a frown.

“You know, the lady in the suit.”

“You named her Karen?”

“Well, it seemed rude to call her Suit Lady. She said I could.” Had he done wrong?

“Huh.” Mr Stark smiled. “Karen. Yeah, I like it. And yes, she’ll be there to help you.”

Peter smiled back. “Cool.”

“Third, you’ll stop worrying about this Vulture guy.”

“But Mr Stark–”

“This guy is dangerous, Peter. If you hear anything more about whatever he’s doing, you call me. Is that clear?” He looked very serious now.

“Yes,” Peter said. It was probably for the best, he thought. He didn’t want to mess up again and put more people in danger.

“Being a hero isn’t all about doing everything yourself, Peter,” Mr Stark said. “Sometimes you need to step back and let other people deal with shit, either because there are others more qualified or because you’re too close to the situation to see it clearly. If what you want is fame, you’re in the wrong business. This shouldn’t be about you. Having powers doesn’t make you better than everyone else.”

Peter didn’t think he was better, and he didn’t want fame. Hell, fame was the last thing he needed. He wanted to help people, to make a difference. “I just want to do good things.” To make up for having failed Uncle Ben. And now Mr Stark too. _With great power comes great responsibility_ , Uncle Ben had always said, and Peter wanted to honor that. He had powers now, so he had a responsibility to use them for good and not just for himself.

“Good, then I need you to listen to me when I tell you to stay away from something, even if you disagree.”

“Okay, I promise.” He would do it right this time, he really would.

“All right, great. Glad we’ve straightened that out.”

There was a slightly awkward silence after that, neither of them knowing what else to say. It was a lot to process. Peter had come to the Tower expecting it to be the last time he’d ever see Mr Stark in person, and instead he was going to start seeing the man even more. He would get to keep being Spider-Man – maybe even join the Avengers officially at some point – and learn stuff. It was…a bit overwhelming, but in a good way.

“Thank you, Mr Stark, for giving me another chance. It’s really nice of you.”

Mr Stark shrugged. “Everybody deserves a second chance, Peter, as long as they learn from previous mistakes and are willing to change.” He finished the rest of his drink and put it in the coffee table in front of him. 

“I will. I mean, I have. I really have.” He’d learned that he could not deal with a guy like the Vulture on his own, and if he tried, he could get people killed.

“Yeah, I guess you have.” He paused, giving Peter an odd look. “Wait. Shouldn’t you be in school right now?” He made a show of looking at his watch, then back at Peter.

“Hmm… I… Hmm…” Peter stuttered.

“You’re cutting school?”

It wasn’t something Peter had ever done frequently – he was a nerd, after all, and for the most part he liked school. “Well… I just… I really needed to talk to you. Hmm, today.” He tried to look contrite.

“Could have done it after school, but yeah, okay, I’ll let it go this time. No more of that, though, all right?”

“Yes, sir.” He nodded.

“Right. Good. So, tell me what’s been going on with you. Happy’s been keeping me appraised, but I wanna hear from you.”

So Peter launched into a detailed (perhaps too detailed, but once he started he couldn’t stop) account of his activities as Spider-Man. He told Mr Stark how he came to find out about the Vulture guy and his crazy alien weapons. He also explained what had happened in DC, including how he (or rather Ned) had hacked the suit and (sorta accidentally) activated Karen.

“Wait, wait, who’s Ned?” Mr Stark interrupted.

“Oh, he’s my best friend. He’s in the decathlon team with me.”

“And you told him about being Spider-Man?”

“Well, not exactly. He… saw me.” Mr Stark made a face at Peter’s lack of secret-keeping abilities. “He was sitting in my bedroom when I came in through the window! How was I supposed to know he was there?”

Mr Stark was still not impressed. “Right. Go on.”

Peter made sure to apologize for the hacking and for being rather reckless.

“That alien bomb thing, what happened to it?” Mr Stark asked.

“I don’t know. In all the confusion we kinda lost it. But it was harmless, right? I mean, after it blew up.” Peter winced. Yep, he’d been an idiot.

Mr Stark sighed. “Well, next time you find some alien thing lying around, you bring it straight to me, okay?”

“Yes, sir. Absolutely.” He was a little scared of alien things now, to be honest.

After exhausting everything Spider-Man related, Mr Stark asked about more personal things, like the stuff he did in school.

“You quit a lot of things you were doing,” he said.

“Well, I thought…” Peter realized now how naïve his fantasy of being a real Avenger was. As if Mr Stark was going to call some clueless kid for world-ending stuff when he could hardly handle simple criminals. What an idiot. “I just…”

“You wanted to be Spider-Man more.”

“Yeah, kind of.” Was that bad? It seemed bad when he thought about it now, considering how that had turned out.

“I can understand that, Peter, but you shouldn’t give up all your school things, or even your personal hobbies or whatever. You need more in your life than being Spider-Man. Trust me.” He stood up. “So, let’s get some lunch and then we can figure out how we’re gonna move forward from here. We’ll sort out some sort of schedule for you.”

Peter practically bounced out of his seat to follow Mr Stark, a smile firmly in place. It still seemed surreal that this was happening after what he’d done, but he was going to make the most of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Since IW is coming, I've decided to rush on posting the rest of this to make way for whatever will come post-IW. Last chapter will come tomorrow around the same time.

After his conversation with Mr Stark, Peter went home invigorated with a new sense of purpose. He now knew exactly what he had to do, and he would get it done.

“You seem happy,” Aunt May commented upon seeing him.

“I got the Stark internship back!”

“Oh, Peter, that’s great!” She hugged him and told him she was proud of him, and Peter felt a little bad about lying to her.

At least that was mostly true. This time he would actually get to do real internship stuff with Mr Stark, like in the lab and everything. It was going to be awesome. Not only would he be mentored by his hero in hero stuff, but also in science stuff.

Ned was just as excited by the news, and slightly envious that Peter would get to actually work with Mr Stark.

“I’ll ask him if you can come along to observe sometimes,” Peter told his friend.

“Oh, that would be so cool!”

Next day in school he had detention (and he got an extra day because he had skipped yesterday), and he used the time to catch up on some of the work he’d been neglecting. Mr Stark had been insistent that Peter had to do well in school and, honestly, Peter kinda missed some of his school activities. And now he wouldn’t be waiting for a phone call that would never come, driving himself crazy with anticipation and nerves. Rather, he’d have a clear schedule for everything, school _and_ Spider-Man.

In the afternoon, he happened to bump into Liz while on a bathroom break, so he took the opportunity to apologize to her as well for the decathlon fiasco (though he couldn’t really be sorry for saving her life, the fact remained that she and the others had only been in danger because he had kept that alien bomb thing in the first place). It was a little embarrassing to find that his secret crush wasn’t as secret as he’d thought, but it all worked out in the end since she actually accepted his invitation to go to the Homecoming dance. Peter could hardly believe it. Could his luck finally be changing?

Thank god for Aunt May when he got home in a panic about the dance. She helped him get the right clothes to look his best, and gave him a few helpful tips for dancing. Peter might be quick and agile as Spider-Man, but he wasn’t sure that would translate well to the dance floor.

He was a pile of nerves when he knocked on the door to Liz’s house and it only got worse from then on. Clearly his luck had not changed all that much after all.

 _This cannot be happening_ , Peter thought, as he stared at the Vulture – the guy who had dropped him into a lake, who was selling alien weapons to criminals, who _was_ a criminal. The man who was also Liz’s dad. _Shit_. _What am I supposed to do now?_

He was sure he acted like an idiot the whole time he was in the house, but he couldn’t help it. In the car, Mr Toomes started asking questions. Peter could tell the moment the man put two and two together and figured it out. Shit. Peter was completely screwed.

“You head in there, gumdrop. I’m gonna give Peter the ‘dad’ talk,” Mr Toomes told Liz when they arrived at the school.

The Vulture had been pretty scary with the wings and the mask, yet Peter was way more terrified of Mr Toomes now. Toomes turned back to look at Peter with a gun in his hand. Peter was quite sure he would be more than capable of firing it if Peter made a wrong move, so he stayed as still as possible and focused on not panicking. He tried to play it cool, but Mr Toomes wasn’t buying it.

“You saved my daughter’s life. I could never forget something like that. So I’m gonna give you one chance. Are you ready? You walk through those doors, you forget any of this happened and don’t you ever – _ever_ – interfere with my business again. Because if you do, I’ll kill you and everybody you love. I’ll kill you dead. That’s what I’ll do to protect my family. Do you understand?”

The words made chills go down Peter’s spine. This guy really meant it, he’d kill people in cold blood if he thought he was threatened. Peter nodded, keeping his eyes down.

“Hey. I just saved you life. Now what do you say?”

Peter mumbled a “thank you”, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of that car and away from this insane guy.

“You’re welcome. Now you go in there and you show my daughter a good time, okay? Just not too good.” Even his smile was sinister. Peter wished he’d never asked Liz out.

Finally, Peter exited the car – leaving his phone behind as a last-minute thought – and watched it drive away. It was obvious that Toomes was going to do something tonight, so Peter had to find out what it was. He was scared, there was no denying it; however, he couldn’t just let this guy keep selling those weapons. God only knew what they were being used for, who they were hurting and killing right at that moment.

It seemed surreal that everyone was just dancing inside, having a good time; Ned waved hello when he saw Peter, smiling and cheerful. All Peter could think about was Liz, and how she didn’t deserve this.

“I gotta go,” he told her. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve this.”

He walked away from her and went to find his best friend.

“Ned!” he shouted. “I need your phone.”

“What? What’s going on? Where’s Liz?”

Peter took hold of Ned’s arm and dragged him outside the dance hall and into the computer lab. “Liz’s dad is the Vulture!”

“What?”

“Come on, give me your phone.”

Ned handed it over and Peter dialed. It was a good thing he had memorized Mr Stark’s number instead of just relying on his phone’s contact list. Now he just had to hope that Mr Stark would actually pick up.

“Unknown number. Please leave a message.” It was the same voice as the one in the elevator, the Tower Lady.

“It’s Peter Parker. I’m on my friend’s phone. I need to talk to Mr Stark. It’s urgent!”

Barely a moment later Mr Stark responded. “Hey, kid, what’s up?”

“Mr Stark! I know who the Vulture is. He’s gonna do something tonight, we have to stop him!”

“Wow, wow, slow down, kid. Okay, from the top. How do you know who the guy is?”

“It’s Liz’s dad! My” he wanted to say girlfriend, but that was clearly not gonna happen now “date’s father. I showed up at her house to get her – ‘cause it’s Homecoming dance tonight – and there he was!”

“All right. What’s his name?”

“Mr Toomes. I don’t know his first name. He told his wife and Liz that he was going out of town tonight on business, but that’s a cover for his criminal activities.” It had to be, right? There was no way he wasn’t doing something illegal.

“Okay, I’ll look into it.”

“Oh, and Mr Stark, he knows who I am.” Peter was trying not to think about it much, because the thought of that guy going after Aunt May filled Peter with dread.

“What? How?”

“He… He recognized my voice and then Liz mentioned some stuff and he put it together. He had a gun and he told me that he’d kill everyone I care about if I got in his way again.”

“Shit.”

“Aunt May–”

“Don’t worry, I’ll send someone over to pick her up and get her somewhere safe until we catch this guy.”

Peter let out a breath, relieved. He would never forgive himself if something happened to his aunt because of him. “I left my phone in his car, we can track him.”

“ _You_ are going to stay put, Peter. I’ll handle this guy, okay? Just enjoy your date.”

“How can I do that? Liz’s dad is a criminal and she has no idea!” It wasn’t fair. God, poor Liz. And her mom too.

“Yeah, that’s a drag,” Mr Stark said, and he sounded sincere. Then he got serious. “But I mean it, stay there.”

“Okay, Mr Stark.” Peter hung up and gave the phone back to Ned.

“Dude, you know Tony Stark’s number by heart,” Ned said in awe. “Shit. I can’t believe Liz’s dad… did he really threaten you? Man, that’s nuts. What are we going to do now?”

“Nothing. Mr Stark said to stay put.” _And this time I’ll listen_. “He’ll deal with Mr Toomes.”

They went back to the dance hall, where Liz was talking to some other girls, utterly oblivious to how her life would soon turn completely upside down once her father was arrested for selling illegal weapons. Peter wanted to say something to her, to warn her somehow, but he couldn’t. He could hardly stand to look at her, knowing that he’d just broken up her family.

Like the coward he was, Peter stepped back before she saw him and muttered to Ned that he needed some air and was going outside. Truth be told, he was still a little shaken up from Mr Toomes’s threat and could use a few moments to get himself calmed down.

The parking lot appeared to be empty, but Peter saw a weird bluish light coming from behind one of the buses. Quietly, he inched his way around to get a better look. _Shit_ , he thought when he saw where the glow was coming from. It was one of Toomes’s guys, and he had one of the alien enhanced weapons in his hand.

Peter ducked down and tried to think. Toomes must have sent the man here in case Peter ignored his warning and went after him anyway. What if the man decided not to wait outside and simply went into the school and started shooting? That weapon could do a lot of damage. Mr Stark had told him to stay and keep his head down, but he couldn’t just ignore this. Calling the cops wouldn’t help because they’d have no chance against that kind of firepower. Mr Stark was busy elsewhere – possibly dealing with Toomes himself – so Peter should do something, right? Like take that weapon away and put it somewhere safe until he could deliver it to Mr Stark and the proper authorities. Yeah, he should do that before this guy hurt someone.

As silently as he could, Peter sneaked back into the school to get his old suit and web-shooters, which he had stashed under the lockers. There was no need to advertise his identity to yet another bad guy, even if this one was probably just a minion.

The old suit felt weird after months of using Mr Stark’s amazing creation. He felt almost naked, actually, but there was no help for it now.

He crept back outside and couldn’t find the guy anymore. _Damn it, where did he go?_

Peter felt the tingle in the back of his head that meant he was in danger and leapt into the air just as a bus came sailing through the spot he’d been standing in.

“Holy shit!” Peter yelped, turning around and firing a web at the guy.

The man dodged and punched Peter with the weapon, making him crash hard into the bus behind him. “I wasn’t sure about this thing at first,” he said, “but damn!” He laughed, the freaking lunatic, then hit the bus, which flipped like an acrobatic seal with Peter in it.

Peter crawled out of it and jumped away, trying again to web the guy. Unfortunately, the old shooters weren’t as good as the ones in Mr Stark’s suit, so Peter missed the target.

“You left your suit at the cleaners, kid? What the hell are you wearing?” Bad guy asked as he took cover behind a car.

 _Haha, very funny_ , Peter thought. God, he missed his suit. If he had Karen, he’d have no trouble finding the guy and webbing the heck out of him.

“Come on, Spider-Boy, stop hiding.”

Peter jumped over a bus, twisting in midair and landing right in front of Bad Guy, punching him in the face before the guy had the chance to try a punch of his own. He didn’t use his full strength, of course, since he didn’t want to actually kill the guy, just enough to knock him back a little. Then he took advantage of the man’s momentary disorientation to grab the weapon and toss it to the ground behind him.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Peter taunted. The man tried to punch Peter back, but without the weapon it was easy enough to evade it and web the guy up against another bus. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that crime doesn’t pay?” Peter said while the man cursed up a storm. Then he got serious. “Where is the Vulture going tonight?”

“Go to hell, kid.”

There was a beep from the man’s pants. Peter fished out a cell phone.

“Hey, that’s mine!”

Peter ignored him and tried to unlock the screen – there could be useful information in there. The man wasn’t very imaginative, and his passcode turned out to be 1234. Not a criminal mastermind, that was for sure. Peter scrolled back his most recent messages and found one text that said something about moving day. He recalled that Mr Stark had mentioned taking his stuff from the Tower to the new Avengers’ facility upstate. _Shit, the Vulture might be going after that. I gotta warn Mr Stark_. Tossing the phone on the floor and snatching up the weapon, Peter ran back into the school.

Fortunately, Ned was hanging around near the door.

“Hey, what happened? I heard some weird noises and there was this crazy light–”

Peter shoved the weapon into Ned’s hands. “Yeah, it was this thing. We gotta hide it. I need your phone again. I think know where the Vulture is going.”

Ned took the weapon and got his phone out of his jacket. “Man, this is nuts.”

This time the call was answered on the first ring. “Peter? What happened?” Mr Stark asked.

“It’s moving day!”

“What?”

Right, that didn’t really explain much. Peter tried again. “The Vulture is going after your stuff. He’s figured out you’re moving it out tonight.”

“How do you know that?”

“He sent one of his guys here and I saw it on his phone. I also took the weapon he had. I’m gonna keep it safe here for now, okay? Oh, and the bad guy is webbed to a bus outside my school. What should I do with him?”

There was a pause while Mr Stark processed everything. “Right. First of all I’m gonna call the police to get the guy. Is the weapon likely to blow up or something?”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think so. I mean, not unless you use it, I guess.”

“All right. What does it do, exactly?”

“It doesn’t shoot blasts or anything. It seems to increase kinetic energy, so that whoever wears it packs a hell of a punch.”

“Well, that’s good. I mean, that it’s not gonna explode. You hang on to it, then. Is everyone safe there?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I got the guy. He didn’t go inside, he was just hanging out outside. Waiting for me, I guess.”

“You didn’t let him see you, did you?” Mr Stark sounded worried; it made Peter feel all warm inside that Mr Stark cared about him.

“Of course not!” Peter wasn’t stupid. Well, maybe a little, but he was being smarter now. “I have my old suit on.”

“You mean those pajamas you used to wear?” Peter would have felt hurt at that, except it was kinda true. Also, he could tell Mr Stark was just teasing. It was actually nice, like they were friends.

“Well, it’s all I got,” Peter mumbled in response.

“Okay, fine. Better than nothing, I guess. Well, I gotta go superhero. You stay out of trouble now, all right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, good. Oh, and good job, kid.”

Peter hung up with a smile on his face. He’d done well this time, made Mr Stark proud.

He gave the phone back to Ned, who was still holding the weapon with a slightly fearful expression. “What do we do with this?” Peter couldn’t blame his friend for being wary about alien stuff, considering what had happened last time. He didn’t want to be around it any more than necessary either.

“Let’s put it in my gym locker.”

Using Peter’s weird sixth sense to avoid bumping into anyone, they got to the gym undetected and hid the weapon successfully. Peter thought about going back to the dance to try to talk to Liz again, but he really didn’t feel like it. How could he dance with her knowing that her father would likely be arrested tonight because of Peter? If she knew that, surely she’d want nothing to do with him. It was best to keep his distance. As much as he’d liked Liz, her father being a murdering villain had pretty much soured the mood there. _Guess it just wasn’t meant to be_ , he thought.

“So now what?” Ned asked. “Shouldn’t you… hmm… change back?”

Oh, yeah, Peter was still wearing his ‘pajamas’. Earlier today, the Homecoming Dance had seemed like the most important thing in the word, his chance to win over Liz, the girl of his dreams. Now, he had no real desire to be here anymore, surrounded by all these kids who had no idea what was going on right outside, and knowing that Liz would be forever out of his reach.

“I don’t think I want to stay,” Peter told his friend, taking off the mask and stuffing it in his pocket. “But you should go back and enjoy yourself.”

Ned took a moment to think it over. “Nah, I’ll come with you. Where are we going anyway?”

Peter thought about going home, then remembered that Mr Stark was going to take Aunt May somewhere else to keep her safe. “Let’s go to the roof,” he said.

As they sat there, Peter told Ned about the fight with Toomes’s goon and everything Mr Stark had said on the phone.

“Man, that’s all crazy. I still can’t believe the Vulture is Liz’s dad.” Ned shook his head.

From the roof, they saw the cops arrive and try to unweb Bad Guy from the bus without much success. Peter considered going to help them, but he didn’t think it would be a good idea for the cops to see him, especially not in his ‘pajamas’.

“Hey, what’s that?” Ned said, pointing at something in the sky.

Peter turned in that direction and squinted. It looked like a plane was on fire, and it was going down. “Oh my god!” Peter said, hastily putting his mask back on and leaping into the air. He fired a web at the nearest tall building in the right direction and took off. Mr Stark had said to stay put, but Peter couldn’t just ignore something like that. A plane was gonna crash! There might be something he could do to save people, at least until the firefighters and rescue workers arrived at the scene.

It took forever to reach the plane, webbing his way through the city while keeping an eye on it, hoping it wouldn’t hit a populated area. It had indeed crashed, though thankfully on a deserted stretch of beach near an amusement park and not in the middle of the city. There were debris and small fires everywhere, but Peter didn’t see anyone either alive or dead.

When he got closer he saw why: it wasn’t a passengers plane, it was Mr Stark’s. Crates had fallen open and tech and equipment with the Stark Industries logo were spilled all over the place.

Peter heard a roaring noise and looked up to see the Vulture emerging from behind a large broken section of the plane. It was quite a terrifying sight and Peter let out a shriek of fear. One of the Vulture’s wings was damaged, with sparks coming out of it, but he was still flying, albeit lopsidedly. After a moment, he spotted Peter and dived for him in a flash. Peter jumped out of the way and shot a line of web at the busted wing. Instead of it slowing him down, however, the Vulture simply pulled at the web and nearly wrenched Peter’s arm out of its socket, causing him to slam face down on the ground.

The Vulture was on him in seconds, one of his claws pinning Peter in place and pressing down.

“I guess you didn’t listen to my warning, did you, Peter? I’ll have to kill you after all.”

Toomes kept pushing down and Peter was starting to have trouble drawing a breath. On his stomach as he was, he couldn’t get any leverage to pull himself up.

There was a familiar whiny noise and the Vulture was tossed back and away from Peter. _Oh, thank god_. Peter scrambled away as Iron Man dodged the Vulture’s counter attack and sent some sort of small missile at him, which Toomes couldn’t evade because of his broken wing. It hit the good one and made more sparks fly.

“Stand down,” Iron Man ordered, repulsor ready for another shot.

“Fuck you, Stark,” Toomes responded. He activated some sort of energy gun in his shoulders, firing a wide shot that had both Iron Man and Peter diving for cover.

“You ruined everything, you little shit,” Toomes said, aiming the second blast at Peter.

Peter wasn’t able to dodge it completely, feeling the shot graze his arm, burning it. Damn, that hurt.

“Okay, that’s it, I’m done playing nice.” Iron Man’s next attack was vicious, a combination of long range weapons to damage the Vulture’s suit further and actual punches that Toomes could probably feel even through all that metal. Peter stayed out of the way, letting Iron Man handle it and inwardly cheering his hero on. _Holy shit, Iron Man is amazing!_

The Vulture’s suit was a total mess now, but Toomes was still firing and cursing, twisting around to use his wings as weapons. He couldn’t fly anymore, but still managed to jump a bit.

“I’m gonna kill you, Stark. And your little friend too.”

“Yeah, right. Better men than you have tried, Toomes. I’m not very easy to kill.”

Iron Man grabbed one of the wings and pulled it apart, making the Vulture stagger back off balance. He hit the ground but got up again quickly. He had something in his hand.

“Mr Stark, look out!” Peter yelled just before Toomes shot whatever it was at Iron Man.

There was a loud explosion and Peter was thrown backwards, ears ringing. It was hard to breathe, so Peter took off his mask, immediately feeling the heat of the flames from all around him.

“Mr Stark?” he called out, trying to blink his burning eyes back into focus. There was no sign of him or Toomes, though Peter could barely see anything.

His ‘spider’ sense alerted him of the danger just before Toomes could grab him from behind. He spun and a metal fist connected with his face hard enough to make Peter see stars. He fell back and Toomes was on him again, landing another punch that knocked Peter’s head to the side. There was blood in his mouth and he was completely disorientated. He put his arms up to defend himself from a third attack, which never came.

Iron Man tackled the Vulture to the ground and repulsored him in the face, destroying what was left of the helmet. Peter gasped and sat up to get away from the fighters, still feeling incredibly dizzy from the explosion and the punches to the face.

“Now, are you going to stay down or do I have to knock your ass down?” Mr Stark asked as he stood over Toomes. The Iron Man suit was dirty and dented but still pretty much in one piece, unlike the Vulture’s. Mr Stark’s tech really was the best.

“Fuck you,” Toomes said again, looking rather demented. He activated something in his suit and Peter heard a whiny sound as his sense of danger started tingling like mad.

 _Oh shit_ , Peter thought. “Mr Stark, get down!”

There was a loud bang and everything went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Lola, who reminded me that Pepper appears in SMH. Like in the movie, though, her part here is really small.

Peter woke up with a throbbing headache, still partly dressed in his pajama suit. One of the sleeves had been cut off to put a bandage on his arm, where the Vulture’s weapon had singed him. It didn’t hurt anymore – or at least Peter couldn’t feel it over the pulsing pain in his head. He seemed to be in a hospital room of sorts, though it was too quiet to be a real hospital.

“Boss? He’s awake.” the female voice of Mr Stark’s Tower AI said. Peter hadn’t caught her name yet.

“Well, hello there. Welcome back to the land of the living,” Mr Stark said as he entered the room.

“What… What happened?” Peter felt a bit stupid for getting knocked out before the fight was done. He should have done better.

“Toomes tried to blow us all up in a last ditch effort to avoid going to jail.”

“Oh my god! Is he dead!?” _Shit. Liz!_

“No, he’s not dead. At least, not yet. Might be soon. He’s in a coma. Doctors aren’t sure he’ll pull through.”

Peter closed his eyes. Poor Liz and her mom. They didn’t deserve this. “Does Liz… Has his family been told?” God, how they must be feeling. Not just Toomes going to jail, but possibly dying…

“Yeah, the FBI has spoken to them. I’m sorry about your friend. It’s not easy finding out someone you trusted and cared about is a lying criminal.” There was a lot of bitterness in Mr Stark’s voice. Peter remembered hearing about Obadiah Stane, who had been a friend and mentor and still tried to have Mr Stark killed. That must have been awful.

And Liz… god, it wasn’t fair. Thinking about her brought tears to his eyes, though he refused to let them fall. “It’s all my fault,” he whispered, horrified. Mr Toomes could die. That wasn’t what Peter wanted.

“Hey, now, none of that,” Mr Stark said, a comforting hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Listen to me, kid. People make their own choices, good and bad. You didn’t make Toomes a criminal. That’s on him. _He_ chose to do all those things, knowing full well what the consequences would be. All you did was discover what he was up to, which was a risk he took, and which would have happened sooner or later anyway. So this is most definitely _not_ your fault.” Mr Stark sat on the bed next to Peter and watched him expectantly.

“But what if he dies?” Peter asked in a small voice.

“That’s also not your fault. He could have surrendered. He chose not to. He chose to try to kill us – and himself in the process. I wanted to bring him in alive and he triggered an explosion. That’s on him. Not you, not me. Him.”

Mr Stark had told Toomes to stand down repeatedly, Peter remembered that quite clearly. It was Toomes who kept escalating the violence. It sucked that the man had been hurt, but Mr Stark was right – he chose to do all those things. “Yeah, I guess,” Peter finally said. Knowing it and feeling it were different things, though, and it didn’t make things any better for Liz and her mom.

“How’s your head?”

“A bit better.” It was, really. It was a very good thing that he healed so fast, otherwise this whole Spider-Man thing would have been really hard to explain to Aunt May.

_Oh shit, Aunt May!_

“What time is it? Where’s May? Oh, I’m gonna be in so much trouble…”

“It’s eight in the morning.” _Oh fuck_. “You were out for a while,” Mr Stark said. “But don’t worry. I called your friend Ned and he told your aunt you were staying at his house. She’s still at the hotel. I had my guys tell her there was a gas leak at your house, so that was why she had to be moved.”

Peter slumped back to the bed in relief. “Thank you, Mr Stark.” That could have been a real disaster.

“You’re gonna have to tell her, you know.” Mr Stark sounded sympathetic and not like he was giving and order, but it still made Peter panic.

“What? No! No way. She’ll freak. She’ll ground me until forever.”

“She should know what you’re up to, what dangers you’re facing. Toomes isn’t dead and we don’t know who he told your identity to, so she could still be in danger.”

 _Oh my god_ , Peter thought, the panic getting worse.

“Actually, I’ve got an idea for that, which we can discuss later. But don’t worry, she’s safe enough for now, all right?” Peter nodded. It was going to be okay, he told himself. Mr Stark would help. “Now, I’ve got breakfast!” Mr Stark picked up a couple of bags from an expensive deli and started spreading its contents out on the bed. “Eat up.” He grabbed a bagel and bit into it with enthusiasm. “Fuck, I’m starving. It’s been a fucking long night.”

Now that he mentioned it, Peter found he was pretty hungry too, so started devouring the food. “Did you get all your stuff back?” he asked through a mouthful of pastrami. His headache was nearly gone now. The food would probably help too.

“It’s being collected now, under Happy’s supervision. I think we’ll be able to recover it all.”

“What happened with the Vulture anyway?” Peter chugged down some juice and reached for a bagel. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know, but he might as well learn it all now. It wasn’t like he’d be able to escape it forever anyway.

“By the time you warned me, the plane was already in the air. Toomes managed to intercept it in flight without triggering any alarms, I don’t know how, and set a decoy signal, so it took a little longer than usual to track it down. When I finally caught up with him he put up a fight and in the course of it the plane was damaged. He had some really powerful weapons. The best I could do was direct the plane to fall away from the city.” He paused and gave Peter a hard look. “Which brings me to _my_ question: what were you doing there when I specifically told you to stay at the school?”

Oh, damn, was he going to get in trouble? “I saw the plane falling. I thought there were people in it. I know you told me to stay put, but I thought it was an emergency! I didn’t know it was your plane.” He had only been trying to help. (Of course, he’d been trying to help in the ferry too, and look how that had gone.)

Mr Stark relaxed a bit at that. “Okay. That’s all right. I guess if it had been a regular plane you might have been able to help someone before the proper crews arrived.”

Peter nodded, glad that this time he’d done the right thing.

“So I’m gonna give you your suit back. For emergencies only for now. Got that?”

“Yes, sir, Mr Stark. Absolutely,” Peter said, will all the sincerity he could muster.

“We’re still gonna do training and stuff.”

“Yeah, sure. That’ll be awesome.” He hoped he wasn’t coming across as too much of a fan boy, thought it was difficult to contain himself.

Mr Stark smiled. He probably knew he was awesome and that Peter could hardly wait for them to start working together for real. “Oh, and here.” He tossed something at Peter, who caught it one handed as his other one was still holding the bagel. It was a phone. A StarkPhone.

“Mr Stark, I can’t–”

“Your old phone is gone. I took the liberty of erasing everything in it, since it was found in a criminal’s car. You could have explained it as having dropped it when Toomes drove you to the dance, but you had a ton of incriminating evidence of being Spider-Man in there, so I figured it was better not to let the Feds poke around in it. It’s well and truly fried.”

“Oh.” Well, that had been rather stupid of him. The phone was password protected (and the key was _not_ 1234, thank you very much), but plenty of people would have been able to crack it. Like the police. Oops.

“This one has better encryption and it’s connected to Karen,” Mr Stark added as Peter studied his amazing new phone. Damn, that was fantastic. He’d always wanted a StarkPhone, but they were expensive and there were more important things to spend their money on.

“Thank you so much, Mr Stark. This is so awesome!” Ned would be really impressed.

“All right, finish your breakfast and I’ll get you back to your aunt.”

The night might not have gone the way Peter had expected, but he’d stopped a dangerous criminal from getting his hands on Mr Stark’s stuff. Even though it was Liz’s father, Peter knew he’d done the right thing. Uncle Ben would have been proud.

*****

Mr Stark dropped him off at the hotel Aunt May was in an hour later. May immediately asked about his night, and Peter had to make up a story on the spot (he really should have come up with something on the way over, he thought), which he wasn’t sure she bought. He would definitely have to speak to Ned later and get their stories straight. Peter never liked lying to Aunt May, but what choice did he have, really?

They had lunch at the hotel, courtesy of Mr Stark (though May didn’t know that), then they went home after a phone call to let them know that the house was ‘safe’ again.

He spent the afternoon texting Ned from his new (and completely amazing) StarkPhone coordinating their lies and filling each other in on what had happened. Thanks to his spidey-powers, he was pretty much totally healed from the fight already, and looking forward to his first official training session with Mr Stark at the Avengers Compound in a few days.

Mr Toomes’s arrest made the news that evening, though Spider-Man’s involvement wasn’t mentioned. The story was that Iron Man had apprehended the criminal, who had attempted to steal the Starkjet, thanks to an anonymous tip. The FBI was in charge of the investigation into Toomes’s criminal activities, which included going through his finances to show how much he had profited from selling those alien enhanced weapon. Despite the fact that Mr Toomes was currently in a coma, the Feds intended to charge him with a long list of crimes whenever he woke up (if he did). The news said nothing about his family, but Peter couldn’t help thinking about Liz. Everyone in school would probably know all about this by Monday; how would Liz deal with it? Peter wanted to be there for her, but how could he be, when he was the one who had tipped the authorities about her father in the first place? Mr Stark was right that it wasn’t his fault that the man would go to jail (if he survived), yet he felt guilty anyway. Not so much for Toomes but for Liz and her mom. Their lives were totally wrecked and they hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t right.

On Monday, Peter retrieved the weapon from his locker at the end of classes to deliver it to Mr Stark. On his way out, he saw Liz (she hadn’t been to class, of course). She was holding a box with her things and looked incredibly sad.

“Hi,” Peter said, feeling like an idiot.

“Hi,” she answered, not quite meeting his eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” It was a very lame thing to say, he knew, yet it was true.

“Yeah.” She discretely wiped her face.

“If there’s anything I can do…” He trailed off. What more could he say, really?

“We’re moving in a few weeks,” Liz said. “My mom has family in Oregon, we’re going there. I don’t…” She turned to Peter then, eyes shining with unshed tears. “I just wish I could talk to him and ask him why. Why did he do it? How could he do this to us?”

Peter had no idea how to respond. Mr Toomes had said family was the most important thing; how, then, could he have acted in a way that would cause them so much hurt? Had he really believed that he’d never be caught? That his family would never find out what he did? It was crazy.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you,” Peter finally said. He hoped it was true, at least.

Liz shook her head, clutching the box she carried as if it was the only thing keeping her up right now. “I don’t think I can ever forgive him. And I don’t know if I’ll ever even have the chance to tell him that.”

There was nothing Peter could say or do to make this better. To his relief, he didn’t have to think of any more inane words, because Liz’s mom arrived to take her daughter home.

“Bye, Liz. Good luck. And take care.”

“You too, Peter.”

It would probably be the last time he ever saw Liz. He really hoped she’d find a way to move on with her life and do all the things she’d always wanted to do. Peter wasn’t sure he believed in God, but he’d pray for her anyway. It was the least he could do.

*****

The receptionist at Stark Tower gave him a laminated badge when he arrived and told him to go on up. Though he was still thinking about Liz and his situation, being back in Mr Stark’s apartment did wonders for his mood.

“Here’s the weapon, Mr Stark,” Peter said as he took it out of his backpack and handed it over.

Mr Stark looked at it for a while, poking it here and there curiously. “Huh. That’s not a bad design, actually. Clever use of the alien power source.”

“Do you know who was making the weapons? I mean, I don’t think Mr Toomes is the kind of guy who would have the kind of technical knowledge to come up with something like that.”

“Oh, he had a partner. The guy you caught at the school gave him up. Unfortunately, the man ran off before the Feds got to him. There’s a warrant out for him, though, so he won’t be able to stay hidden for long.” Mr Stark sighed. “They were pretty smart about keeping their little venture on the low down, considering how long they’d been doing it. If you hadn’t stumbled across them, they’d likely still be in business. So, good work, kid, you dismantled a dangerous criminal operation.”

There was a part of Peter that was glowing with pride at the praise, while another kept thinking of Liz. “I just wish he wasn’t someone I knew, that he wasn’t Liz’s dad.”

“Our actions always have consequences, Peter. To the people we know and to the thousands of nameless out there. It shouldn’t matter whether we know someone personally or not. We do the right thing regardless, and deal with the fallout regardless too. If Toomes had been a complete stranger, he might still have had a family that would have been impacted by all this. They would not be less important if you didn’t know their names. It isn’t your fault either way, of course, but you should never write the consequences off just because you don’t know who the people involved are. People aren’t numbers, they have lives that matter. In this case, you helped a lot of strangers by making sure Toomes won’t sell any more weapons, but there are also consequences for Toomes’s family.”

There seemed to be a lot that Mr Stark wasn’t saying with that, a lot of personal stuff Peter could only guess at. Still, what he said made a lot of sense. Uncle Ben had been a statistic to many – just another victim of armed robbery – but to Peter and May it was a loved one gone, just like that, and their lives changed for the worse.

Mr Stark patted Peter on the arm. “It’s hard because you know and like his daughter, but ultimately you did your job, and we can only hope that she understands that you did the right thing and doesn’t blame you for something that wasn’t your fault.”

Again, that sounded personal. Peter wondered who had blamed Mr Stark for doing the right thing. Captain Rogers, maybe? Peter still didn’t know the whole story there. “I don’t think so. I talked to her today and she seemed angry at her dad. She said she’d never forgive him. She seemed really sad too.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” He sighed. “Anyway, remember that your actions have consequences, and you need to be careful about what you do, because people’s lives could be deeply affected.”

Peter flinched just a little, thinking of the disaster that could have been the ferry and the thing in Washington. He hadn’t thought of consequences then; he would from now on. He nodded.

“Okay, enough bad things. Good things now.” He clapped his hands and gestured to the couch. “Your suit.” There was a silver suitcase on it, which Mr Stark opened. “I made a couple of upgrades. Go on, try it on.”

It had only been a few days, but Peter had dearly missed his suit. There it was now, back in his hands. And better! How could it be better? It was pretty much perfect already. He told Mr Stark so while he changed (Mr Stark was nice enough to look away as he did it).

“Nothing is ever perfect, Peter. There’s always room for improvement. In this case, I put the tracker back – and don’t disable it again or I will be really pissed – and made a few changes to the more advanced features. Mostly they’ll be locked for now, unless it’s a real emergency. Like, end of the world emergency.”

“I won’t touch the tracker, I promise.”

Peter activated the suit and mentally cheered.

“Hello, Peter.”

“Karen!”

“I am pleased to be able to keep assisting you.”

Peter smiled like an idiot, even though neither Karen nor Mr Stark could see him. “I’m very happy to have your help, Karen.” He thought about saying he missed her, but wasn’t sure if that would be creepy – he never knew with women. (Was Karen a woman, though? Did she even get creeped out? Peter actually had a lot of questions about AIs.)

“So, do a spin or something,” Mr Stark said, and Peter obligingly did a few back flips around the living room, ending up hanging from the ceiling upside down. “Okay, that’s really impressive.”

This time Peter had no mixed feelings about the praise, he just felt super chuffed. “This is so awesome, Mr Stark! Really, it’s amazing. Thank you so much!”

Mr Stark gave him a fond look. Fond! It was so cool! “No worries. Now would you _please_ stop calling me Mr Stark? It’s making me feel even older than I am. It’s Tony.”

Peter winced slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel old, Mr Stark.” Oops. “I mean…. hmm… Tony?” Wow, that was weird. It sounded disrespectful, a bit.

Mr Stark – _Tony_ ( _oh my god_ ) – laughed. “I’m not a stickler for formality, Peter. Really, Tony is just fine. That’s what my friends call me.”

Did that mean they were friends now? Holy shit! It had been amazing enough to get to know Mr Stark – oops, Tony – and be mentored by him (his childhood hero!), but to be a friend? That was… absolutely amazing. Who would ever have thought that Peter Parker would be friends with Tony Stark aka Iron Man, the greatest hero in the world? Peter thought he might just explode with joy and excitement.

“Right. So I’ll see you tomorrow at the Compound for your first training session, okay?”

“Yes!” Peter was sure he’d failed to contain his fanboying, though Mr Stark – wow, that was a really tough habit to break – didn’t seem to mind. He was probably used to that, what with being a famous superhero and all.

“In the meantime, since you’re already here, do you want to go to the lab? You can tell me how you made your webs.”

Peter was glad he was still wearing the mask, because his expression in response to that was likely very embarrassing. At this point, it was hard to say what he was most amazed by, training as a hero with Iron Man or doing science with Tony Stark.

This was why Tony Stark was the best hero, Peter thought. It wasn’t just that he was Iron Man, which was very cool on its own, but also (especially) because _Tony_ had built the suit. Not just the suit, but a whole lot of other amazing things. Tony Stark made being a geeky science nerd look cool, he showed the world that one didn’t have to be super strong or have ‘superpowers’ to be a hero – one could just be smart. Intelligence was a superpower, and how cool was that? Sure, Captain America was okay and all (or he used to be, Peter was no longer sure), but his being a superhero was just a case of being at the right place at the right time. Steve Rogers had gotten the serum that made him Captain America; however, it could just as easily had been someone else. In contrast, without Tony Stark there would be no Iron Man. He was a truly self-made hero. Also, Tony Stark didn’t need the suit to be a hero; he did plenty of amazing and revolutionary things outside of it (Peter still wasn’t sure what _he_ ’d be without his powers or suit). Interning at Stark Industries would have been incredible even if Peter wasn’t Spider-Man. Working at SI was a nerd’s dream simply because it was the best in the business, it didn’t have anything to do with Iron Man (well, maybe a little bit).

Even though Mr Stark had sold the Tower, he still kept his penthouse apartment and his private lab. Walking inside it, Peter felt like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time (or so he imagined, he’d never actually gone to Disneyland) – it was an almost magical experience. There were so many amazing things Peter didn’t quite know where to look. Mr Stark was very patient in letting Peter geek out for a while, and then he asked questions. Peter rambled about everything related to his web fluid (how he’d created it and some ideas he’d had for improvements) and about other science things he enjoyed. Usually, when Peter got started on this sort of topic, the person he was talking to got bored fast, but Mr Stark seemed really interested. It was rare for Peter to get a chance like this – even his science teachers got a bit annoyed after a while, because they had other things to do. Ned was really the only one Peter talked to about this stuff, and even that wasn’t all he wanted since Ned was more into computers than biochemistry, which was Peter’s passion. Despite the fact that it wasn’t Mr Stark’s field either, he seemed really into it. It was awesome.

At some point Peter took off his mask and wore his stupid smile proudly the whole time he was in the lab. He forgot all about the Vulture and Liz for a while (which he later felt guilty for) and had an excellent time.

*****

The next day after school he went to the Tower, where Happy was waiting to drive him to the Avengers Compound. After changing into the suit, Peter was given a tour of the place by Mr Stark himself and Vision. Peter had not had much chance to talk to the android before in Berlin, so he was a little nervous about making a good first (technically second) impression. Vision’s very existence was fascinating to Peter, yet he refrained from asking any questions because that would be rude. Col Rhodes wasn’t there (Mr Stark explained he was in Washington doing something Accords related), which was a shame. He seemed like a really nice guy. Peter was glad that he was doing better after that awful fall. Ms Potts was even more stunning in person than on TV, and Peter stuttered like an idiot when Mr Stark introduced her.

“It’s nice to meet you, Spider-Man. You boys have a good time.” She kissed Mr Stark and apologized for not being able to stay; she had a meeting to get to. “I’ll see you at home.”

 _Wow_ , Peter thought. _Mr Stark is a lucky guy_.

“This will be your room while you’re here,” Mr Stark said when they got to the residential area. “So you can bring some spare clothes or something later.”

Peter nodded dumbly. He’d have an actual room? Wow!

The training area was the most awesome thing Peter had ever seen in his life. There was an obstacle course and practice robots and all sorts of amazing things. The first 15 minutes of training, Peter was so distracted looking at everything that he did a really piss-poor job. Neither Mr Stark nor Vision got mad though, they just told him to focus and started again. Eventually, Peter got his head in the game and was able to show them what he could do.

“Good job, Spider-Man,” Mr Stark told him once they finally wrapped it up. “There’s room for improvement, obviously, but you did really well.”

If it was possible to die of happiness, Peter would have been a goner in that moment.

Happy offered to drive him home afterwards, but Peter declined. He needed some time to get down from his adrenaline and excitement high before he got home, lest he freak out May.

The house was silent when he came in through his bedroom window. May had texted to say she was out running some errands. As such, Peter didn’t bother to take off the suit right away, still chatting with Karen about his training performance and what he could do better for next time. He was so caught up in the conversation that he didn’t hear the front door open and when he turned around he came face to face with May standing at his door with wide eyes.

“What the fuck!?”

_Oh shit. I’m so busted._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm seeing IW tomorrow with a friend. Oh god... it's gonna be awful...


End file.
